Create a user-friendly wholesale website

I have been rebuilding my Simply Sarah website and giving it a major overhaul along with an updated 2010 look.   Woo Hoo!

While working on some back end yucky stuff with my web designers, I realized all of the things you’ll need to have in order to create a friendly and easy to use Wholesale section that will make purchasing fast for buyers.  I hadn’t thought about it in a long time so it was a good refresher course for me, and now I can pass my list on to you!

I prefer to have a totally separate wholesale section for my boutiques so buyers ONLY see wholesale prices. This makes their shopping experience easier, and they can do it on their own time — even in their Pj’s!  Of course, if you can’t afford this option yet, you could give buyers a coupon code for the appropriate discount at checkout if it works for your pricing structure.

TIP: When we give any kind of coupon code to our wholesalers, we use the same code for everyone to make it easier for us.  However, you should phrase it in a way that buyers will think it’s unique to them, e.g.:  Please use this unique code we created for you to make your purchase for free shipping (or whatever).

Things to have for a user-friendly wholesale section of your website:

• Wholesale button on home page
• Simple form to register for a wholesale username and password (and emailed to you for review)
• Easy to find login on home page once they have their username and password
• Wholesale buying section with wholesale prices only
• Ability to adjust shipping costs for wholesale
• Ability to capture their emails for special notices

My suggestion to you on your registration form is that you ask for the information I have listed below and make it required in order for a buyer to register.  When you receive a new registration form, you should call the store using the contact information on the form to verify if the buyer is real. If the phone is answered: “Hello XXX store…”, that is a good sign, but if it is a personal cell phone, be sure to ask for the store’s direct number to verify them.  You can decide at that point if you are willing to sell wholesale to someone who might be selling out of the back of their car, but the choice should be yours alone!

• First and last name
• Store Name
• Store address
• Store Telephone
• Email address
• Cell Phone (optional)
• Resale #

Good luck!